Survive freezing night with just tank heaters?

[RGP]

A lot depend on how much you want to do. There was an article a while back about a guy who wanted to try to winter over on Alaska. The had a small TT.

He skirted it with foam board insulation. Shoveled snow, when it fell, up to the windows so it looked like a tin topped igloo. He burned a huge amount of propane, proved it could be done, wrote an article about it for a magazine and was never very far from family help if he needed it.

It can be done if you have the time, money and luck.

Be safe.   

 

[Frank B]

ALLOY:


With the amount of time and effort that you have invested in your unit, I hope you are never planning on selling it!  ;D

 

[namumac1]

My only excuse is that the warm liquid from the tanks truly makes it unnecessary. I was thinking I need to both insulate and heat the pipes. You think just insulating is sufficient?

Thanks!

-Wolfgang

If you're boondocking won't the 12v heat tape be a big load on your batteries?

 

[ALLOY]

ALLOY:


With the amount of time and effort that you have invested in your unit, I hope you are never planning on selling it!  ;D

Who would want to buy a 35' 5th with a 16"deep frame, 8k air ride axles, 240gal FW, 120g Grey, 120gal Black, 100lb propane tank, 1.3Kw fixed + 1.3kw portable solar, and a pile of other useless junk    

 

[Frank B]

If you tow that at all, I assume that you're using a commercial highway tractor?  ;D

 

[keymastr]

I would check that all your tanks have heaters. Most often the fresh tank is the only one with a heater unless added by an owner. I would add heat pads and tape to the drains and waste tanks and insulate them. Spray foam is great but can be pricey to replace if you need to get at the plumbing.

 

[winslow]

Our Outdoors RV came stock with foam sprayed around the tanks and lines, with coroplast ( http://www.coroplast.com/ ) used to both hold it up while it cures and protect it from physical damage from below. Never had a freeze up issue (except the hose running to the rig!) with nights in the teens and days in the 30s in North Idaho.

 

[ALLOY]

Our Outdoors RV came stock with foam sprayed around the tanks and lines, with coroplast ( http://www.coroplast.com/ ) used to both hold it up while it cures and protect it from physical damage from below. Never had a freeze up issue (except the hose running to the rig!) with nights in the teens and days in the 30s in North Idaho.

Our previous trailer had coroplast on the bottom. The seal at the front and around the front stab jacks and slide arms was open.  When I dropped one side to access the basement I found that the coroplast had water both on top of it and inside it.

 

[captaindomon]

One thing to be careful with the expanding spray foam if you do it yourself: It?s more than strong enough to break things as it expands. Be careful if you are spraying it into enclosed areas, as it slowly continues to expand over the course of several hours, it can break things apart and distort things. Might be good to have a professional do it if you have one available.

 

[WolfgangStiller]

If you're boondocking won't the 12v heat tape be a big load on your batteries?

It's max 3 times 4.8 at peak but they will cycle on and off.  Even if they are on 100% I have dual batteries and calculated the load so I well above 50% at expected usage. Plus I have a Honda EU2000IC if I need it.

 

[packnrat]

everything with water in it will freeze. and frozen water uses up more space then liquid water.
install heat tape and wrap up to help keep the heat at the pipe.
done in layers is easy.
first layer is alu foil on the pipe, (helps spread the heat better over and around the plastic piping).
then the heat tape. (remember to have the plug were it can be accessed easily).
then a wrap covering (all weather outer) like ac duct tape.
remember to cover the valves.

 

[WolfgangStiller]

Pretty much planning to do that.  Foil and then 12v heating cable (a total of 13 feet will be used which draws 1.5 watts per foot), and then pipe wrap insulation covered with heaving duty weather resistant duct tape to hold it together. I am wiring it in to the associated tank heater so it will be on only when the heater is switched on. The heat tape is not thermostatically controlled but will never get above 150 deg F.

I will be testing this setup using antifreeze in the tanks to see exactly how low it can go. Based on my preliminary tests, we should be fine to 0 deg F (with short periods of colder temps OK).

-Wolfgang